Pub Date : 2022-11-29DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2022.2149724
I. Solorio, J. Tosun
ABSTRACT We assess whether different presidents have different “styles” of involving intermediary organizations such as trade unions or business associations in the policy process. Given that temporal variation in the relationship between presidents and intermediaries can be observed, to what extent can the intermediaries included in the policy process be explained by the respective president’s leadership style and/or political ideology? We concentrate on the process by which clean energy policies were formulated under three Mexican presidents between 2006 and 2022. We draw on original data collected through 18 semi-structured interviews carried out with intermediaries between January and July 2022. Our findings show that the different presidents had different policy styles and therefore varied in how they included climate intermediaries in the policy process. This finding has important implications for research on policy styles as well as climate intermediation. Regarding policy styles the results presented call for theorizing of the dynamics observed. As concerns climate intermediaries the corresponding literature is invited to pay more attention to the political context in which they operate.
{"title":"Presidents and intermediaries: insights from clean energy policy processes in Mexico","authors":"I. Solorio, J. Tosun","doi":"10.1080/01442872.2022.2149724","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2149724","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT We assess whether different presidents have different “styles” of involving intermediary organizations such as trade unions or business associations in the policy process. Given that temporal variation in the relationship between presidents and intermediaries can be observed, to what extent can the intermediaries included in the policy process be explained by the respective president’s leadership style and/or political ideology? We concentrate on the process by which clean energy policies were formulated under three Mexican presidents between 2006 and 2022. We draw on original data collected through 18 semi-structured interviews carried out with intermediaries between January and July 2022. Our findings show that the different presidents had different policy styles and therefore varied in how they included climate intermediaries in the policy process. This finding has important implications for research on policy styles as well as climate intermediation. Regarding policy styles the results presented call for theorizing of the dynamics observed. As concerns climate intermediaries the corresponding literature is invited to pay more attention to the political context in which they operate.","PeriodicalId":47179,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies","volume":"114 1","pages":"608 - 626"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87980155","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-06DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2022.2142205
F. Farstad, Anders Tønnesen, I. Christensen, Bård Sødal Grasbekk, Kristiane Brudevoll
ABSTRACT There is little knowledge of how policymakers manage governance networks (“metagovern”) within climate policy and especially at non-executive levels of public management. One strategy to metagovern is through using intermediary actors such as funding bodies. However, as novel actors within climate governance, such “climate intermediaries” are under-researched. We address these gaps by exploring the metagovernance through an intermediary actor, namely the Norwegian “Klimasats” Fund. We find that the logic of funding bodies lends itself to “carrots” as opposed to “sticks”, weakening the potential for transformation. Funding bodies can also increase existing differences in climate action between larger and smaller local authorities. However, funding bodies have a beneficial bi-directional functionality, incentivising local innovation whilst feeding lessons both up to and across government. Funding bodies also have the power to make local actors into intermediaries in their own right and can influence policy discourses. Thus, in assessing metagovernance at the non-executive level and using intermediary actors such as funding bodies, we reveal significant challenges, but also surprising opportunities, for the low-carbon transition.
{"title":"Metagoverning through intermediaries: the role of the Norwegian “Klimasats” Fund in translating national climate goals to local implementation","authors":"F. Farstad, Anders Tønnesen, I. Christensen, Bård Sødal Grasbekk, Kristiane Brudevoll","doi":"10.1080/01442872.2022.2142205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2142205","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT There is little knowledge of how policymakers manage governance networks (“metagovern”) within climate policy and especially at non-executive levels of public management. One strategy to metagovern is through using intermediary actors such as funding bodies. However, as novel actors within climate governance, such “climate intermediaries” are under-researched. We address these gaps by exploring the metagovernance through an intermediary actor, namely the Norwegian “Klimasats” Fund. We find that the logic of funding bodies lends itself to “carrots” as opposed to “sticks”, weakening the potential for transformation. Funding bodies can also increase existing differences in climate action between larger and smaller local authorities. However, funding bodies have a beneficial bi-directional functionality, incentivising local innovation whilst feeding lessons both up to and across government. Funding bodies also have the power to make local actors into intermediaries in their own right and can influence policy discourses. Thus, in assessing metagovernance at the non-executive level and using intermediary actors such as funding bodies, we reveal significant challenges, but also surprising opportunities, for the low-carbon transition.","PeriodicalId":47179,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies","volume":"268 1","pages":"646 - 665"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74538112","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-24DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2022.2138307
Avri Eitan, Itay Fischhendler
ABSTRACT The infrastructure sector is undergoing a significant process of change, as part of which the state is reducing its direct engagement. This has spotlighted local communities, which are increasingly involved in various infrastructure projects, specifically renewable energy projects. However, because individual communities often find it difficult to establish infrastructure projects independently, they tend to collaborate in the framework of inter-community partnerships. Despite the global prevalence of such partnerships, it is still unclear what constitutes the “glue” binding various communities together, enabling them to promote infrastructure projects, and renewable energy projects in particular. Our study addresses this research lacuna, focusing on the role of climate intermediaries in facilitating these partnerships. Based on internal correspondences regarding the promotion of “Ru’ach Bereshit,” the largest wind farm planned in Israel to date, we demonstrate how an individual climate intermediary engaged in negotiations in four arenas: within communities, between communities, vis-à-vis private developers, and vis-à-vis regulators. By exploring climate intermediaries’ multi-arena negotiations, this study demonstrates how such intermediaries succeed in synchronizing local energy policies with national energy policies to promote a renewable energy project that transcends the community level of analysis.
{"title":"The architecture of inter-community partnerships in renewable energy: the role of climate intermediaries","authors":"Avri Eitan, Itay Fischhendler","doi":"10.1080/01442872.2022.2138307","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2138307","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The infrastructure sector is undergoing a significant process of change, as part of which the state is reducing its direct engagement. This has spotlighted local communities, which are increasingly involved in various infrastructure projects, specifically renewable energy projects. However, because individual communities often find it difficult to establish infrastructure projects independently, they tend to collaborate in the framework of inter-community partnerships. Despite the global prevalence of such partnerships, it is still unclear what constitutes the “glue” binding various communities together, enabling them to promote infrastructure projects, and renewable energy projects in particular. Our study addresses this research lacuna, focusing on the role of climate intermediaries in facilitating these partnerships. Based on internal correspondences regarding the promotion of “Ru’ach Bereshit,” the largest wind farm planned in Israel to date, we demonstrate how an individual climate intermediary engaged in negotiations in four arenas: within communities, between communities, vis-à-vis private developers, and vis-à-vis regulators. By exploring climate intermediaries’ multi-arena negotiations, this study demonstrates how such intermediaries succeed in synchronizing local energy policies with national energy policies to promote a renewable energy project that transcends the community level of analysis.","PeriodicalId":47179,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies","volume":"79 1","pages":"572 - 588"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82073955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-24DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2022.2137122
Alice Hague, E. Bomberg
ABSTRACT Faith-based actors (FBAs) are increasingly active in climate policy, and a growing literature focuses on how specific faith characteristics (theological and organizational) might shape climate action. This paper examines an under-researched dimension of their action. Using the example of Christian FBAs in Scotland, we examine their distinctive role as “climate intermediaries” – “go-betweens” between policymakers and their policy targets. We construct a framework of three core intermediary capabilities – representation, mobilization, aggregation – and examine strategies adopted to implement those capabilities. Using documentary data we identify FBA involvement in domestic and global climate policy, examining how certain Christian FBAs seek to shape government policy, but also aim to change the actions and behaviours of their congregations and members. While FBA action has not alone shaped climate policy or agreements, we find their linkage role is distinct and multi-directional. First, by mediating “downwards”, FBAs mobilize action on global climate concerns within their own congregations. By converting parishioners’ religious concern into global action, these FBAs link the local to the global, but also the spiritual to the practical. FBAs also operate “upwards” to successfully aggregate specific theological knowledge, and translate it into a powerful, general moral imperative for climate action.
{"title":"Faith-based actors as climate intermediaries in Scottish climate policy","authors":"Alice Hague, E. Bomberg","doi":"10.1080/01442872.2022.2137122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2137122","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Faith-based actors (FBAs) are increasingly active in climate policy, and a growing literature focuses on how specific faith characteristics (theological and organizational) might shape climate action. This paper examines an under-researched dimension of their action. Using the example of Christian FBAs in Scotland, we examine their distinctive role as “climate intermediaries” – “go-betweens” between policymakers and their policy targets. We construct a framework of three core intermediary capabilities – representation, mobilization, aggregation – and examine strategies adopted to implement those capabilities. Using documentary data we identify FBA involvement in domestic and global climate policy, examining how certain Christian FBAs seek to shape government policy, but also aim to change the actions and behaviours of their congregations and members. While FBA action has not alone shaped climate policy or agreements, we find their linkage role is distinct and multi-directional. First, by mediating “downwards”, FBAs mobilize action on global climate concerns within their own congregations. By converting parishioners’ religious concern into global action, these FBAs link the local to the global, but also the spiritual to the practical. FBAs also operate “upwards” to successfully aggregate specific theological knowledge, and translate it into a powerful, general moral imperative for climate action.","PeriodicalId":47179,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies","volume":"60 1","pages":"589 - 607"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90659610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-20DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2022.2133103
Wei Li
ABSTRACT In this study, a synthesized framework based on the policy advisory system (PAS) and the politics-administration (PA) dichotomy is applied to Hong Kong, a jurisdiction in transition from its previous status as a colony influenced by the Westminster system to a special administrative region of China. Based on interviews and questionnaire responses from policymakers and advisors in different structural positions of the PAS, the study finds that politicized public-service appointment has increased political control over the content of policy advice through three pathways: the selection of alternative policy advisors, the restructuring of sources of policy advice, and the opening-up of extant policy-advisory processes. Unlike in some non-Western and state-centered regimes, centralized political control in Hong Kong has both internalized and broadened the range of policy alternatives. The case of Hong Kong demonstrates that the dynamics of PA dichotomy provide pathways to policy advice politicization in the PAS, although the hybrid Westminster and Confucian traditions of Hong Kong shape the pathways toward, the degree, and the content of policy advice politicization. These findings affirm the PAS theory that the political-technical dimensions of policy advice do not fit neatly with the location or structural roles of policy actors.
{"title":"Does politicized public service appointment strengthen political control over policy advice? The case of Hong Kong, China","authors":"Wei Li","doi":"10.1080/01442872.2022.2133103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2133103","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In this study, a synthesized framework based on the policy advisory system (PAS) and the politics-administration (PA) dichotomy is applied to Hong Kong, a jurisdiction in transition from its previous status as a colony influenced by the Westminster system to a special administrative region of China. Based on interviews and questionnaire responses from policymakers and advisors in different structural positions of the PAS, the study finds that politicized public-service appointment has increased political control over the content of policy advice through three pathways: the selection of alternative policy advisors, the restructuring of sources of policy advice, and the opening-up of extant policy-advisory processes. Unlike in some non-Western and state-centered regimes, centralized political control in Hong Kong has both internalized and broadened the range of policy alternatives. The case of Hong Kong demonstrates that the dynamics of PA dichotomy provide pathways to policy advice politicization in the PAS, although the hybrid Westminster and Confucian traditions of Hong Kong shape the pathways toward, the degree, and the content of policy advice politicization. These findings affirm the PAS theory that the political-technical dimensions of policy advice do not fit neatly with the location or structural roles of policy actors.","PeriodicalId":47179,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies","volume":"21 1","pages":"806 - 831"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80013576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-10DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2022.2130884
K. Sideri, Barbara Prainsack
ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic, Digital Contact Tracing (DCT) tools were deployed by governments in Europe and beyond as a novel mobile technology to assist traditional manual contact tracing to track individuals who have come in close contact with an infected person. The public debate on this topic focused strongly on the protection of individual privacy. While this debate is important, it fails to address important governance questions – such as, for example, that DCT tools took on the role of social nudges, namely, tools of soft regulation that calibrate information flows so as to “push” people to act in ways that promote collective purposes. Social nudges include a range of norms and values that, however, are built into the technological and social features of the nudge, rather than rendering them open to public scrutiny and debate. Although the use of contact tracing apps is being phased out, the digitization of contact tracing can be seen as a case study of the broader trend towards digitization of the provision of health services. Debates of their governance thus have broader implications for the governance of data driven tools deployed for public health purposes in times of crisis.
{"title":"COVID-19 contact tracing apps and the governance of collective action: social nudges, deliberation, and solidarity in Europe and beyond","authors":"K. Sideri, Barbara Prainsack","doi":"10.1080/01442872.2022.2130884","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2130884","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic, Digital Contact Tracing (DCT) tools were deployed by governments in Europe and beyond as a novel mobile technology to assist traditional manual contact tracing to track individuals who have come in close contact with an infected person. The public debate on this topic focused strongly on the protection of individual privacy. While this debate is important, it fails to address important governance questions – such as, for example, that DCT tools took on the role of social nudges, namely, tools of soft regulation that calibrate information flows so as to “push” people to act in ways that promote collective purposes. Social nudges include a range of norms and values that, however, are built into the technological and social features of the nudge, rather than rendering them open to public scrutiny and debate. Although the use of contact tracing apps is being phased out, the digitization of contact tracing can be seen as a case study of the broader trend towards digitization of the provision of health services. Debates of their governance thus have broader implications for the governance of data driven tools deployed for public health purposes in times of crisis.","PeriodicalId":47179,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies","volume":"98 1","pages":"132 - 153"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75659441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-10-02DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2022.2129046
Lei Gao, C. Eller, Austin F. Eggers
ABSTRACT There have been concerns about data privacy and protection internationally. This has led to the development of policy tools, such as the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), but there remains limited evaluation of the effectiveness of the policies. The purpose of this study is to examine cloud computing privacy policies in order to determine how they changed in response to GDPR. Specifically, we focus on the EU’s mandate for “clear and plain language” by scrutinizing various content characteristics. In order to examine the response to the changes enacted by GDPR, we conduct a content analysis of cloud computing firm privacy policies from three periods. Results indicate that despite a mandate for “clear and plain language,” the readability of the privacy policies post-GDPR did not improve. Surprisingly, many privacy policies examined showed a significant decrease in readability. Additionally, the use of uncertainty language and litigious language also increased in certain areas. The findings outlined in this study are informative for policy makers, businesses interested in minimizing risks associated with GDPR noncompliance, and individuals whose data is subject to GDPR. These findings also point to the challenges faced by organizations in developing effective policies in the realm of digital governance.
{"title":"GDPR and the cloud: examining readability deficiencies in cloud computing providers’ privacy policies","authors":"Lei Gao, C. Eller, Austin F. Eggers","doi":"10.1080/01442872.2022.2129046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2129046","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT There have been concerns about data privacy and protection internationally. This has led to the development of policy tools, such as the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), but there remains limited evaluation of the effectiveness of the policies. The purpose of this study is to examine cloud computing privacy policies in order to determine how they changed in response to GDPR. Specifically, we focus on the EU’s mandate for “clear and plain language” by scrutinizing various content characteristics. In order to examine the response to the changes enacted by GDPR, we conduct a content analysis of cloud computing firm privacy policies from three periods. Results indicate that despite a mandate for “clear and plain language,” the readability of the privacy policies post-GDPR did not improve. Surprisingly, many privacy policies examined showed a significant decrease in readability. Additionally, the use of uncertainty language and litigious language also increased in certain areas. The findings outlined in this study are informative for policy makers, businesses interested in minimizing risks associated with GDPR noncompliance, and individuals whose data is subject to GDPR. These findings also point to the challenges faced by organizations in developing effective policies in the realm of digital governance.","PeriodicalId":47179,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies","volume":"3 1","pages":"832 - 854"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80717612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-27DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2022.2096212
Weijie Luo
ABSTRACT This study analyses the impact of the relative use of distortionary and non-distortionary taxes on economic growth using a panel of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and a sample period of 1980–2015. In particular, we examine whether the impact of non-distortionary taxes on economic growth increases with ageing, which has increased in western countries over the past 30 years. We do so by extending the dataset to include the dramatic change in the demographic structure seen in OECD countries since 1990. Using this lengthened data range allows us to find a negative effect of distortionary taxation as expected. However, our results also show that an increase in non-distortionary taxation is negatively associated with growth. This study thus argues that recent distortions from non-distortionary taxation can be accounted for by the rapid ageing of the population. Ideal tax systems are often formulated by economists, but politicians cannot always adopt such an ideal tax design because of the risk of losing popularity with the electorate. Our analysis could be applied to design tax systems that can be implemented in the real world.
{"title":"Tax composition and economic growth in the age of demographic change","authors":"Weijie Luo","doi":"10.1080/01442872.2022.2096212","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2096212","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study analyses the impact of the relative use of distortionary and non-distortionary taxes on economic growth using a panel of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and a sample period of 1980–2015. In particular, we examine whether the impact of non-distortionary taxes on economic growth increases with ageing, which has increased in western countries over the past 30 years. We do so by extending the dataset to include the dramatic change in the demographic structure seen in OECD countries since 1990. Using this lengthened data range allows us to find a negative effect of distortionary taxation as expected. However, our results also show that an increase in non-distortionary taxation is negatively associated with growth. This study thus argues that recent distortions from non-distortionary taxation can be accounted for by the rapid ageing of the population. Ideal tax systems are often formulated by economists, but politicians cannot always adopt such an ideal tax design because of the risk of losing popularity with the electorate. Our analysis could be applied to design tax systems that can be implemented in the real world.","PeriodicalId":47179,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies","volume":"5 1","pages":"786 - 805"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78596052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-21DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2022.2103527
M. Giuliani
ABSTRACT Scholars have started to estimate the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions to reduce the health impact of COVID-19. However, the empirical evidence is highly contested, and since it is not known exactly what would have happened without those measures, political élites are left free to give credit to the voices that they prefer the most. We argue that any sensible assessment of the effectiveness of anti-COVID policies requires methodological reflection on what is actually comparable, and how to approximate the ideal “method of difference” theorized by John Stuart Mill. By evaluating the effectiveness of school closures as an anti-COVID policy, we provide two examples in which appropriate counterfactuals are inductively discovered rather than selected a priori. In the first one, we use Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM) in a cross-country setting, while in the second one, we implement the Synthetic Control Method in a within-country analysis. The article highlights the methodological advantages of including these techniques in the toolbox of policy scholars, while both examples confirm the effectiveness of school closures.
学者们已经开始评估非药物干预措施对减少COVID-19健康影响的效果。然而,经验证据存在很大的争议,而且由于不知道如果没有这些措施会发生什么,政治上的混混者就可以自由地相信他们最喜欢的声音。我们认为,对抗疫政策有效性的任何合理评估,都需要在方法论上反思什么是真正的可比性,以及如何接近约翰·斯图尔特·穆勒(John Stuart Mill)提出的理想的“差异方法”。通过评估学校关闭作为抗covid政策的有效性,我们提供了两个例子,其中适当的反事实是归纳发现的,而不是先验选择的。在第一篇文章中,我们在跨国环境中使用粗化精确匹配(CEM),而在第二篇文章中,我们在国内分析中实现了综合控制方法。这篇文章强调了将这些技术纳入政策学者工具箱的方法论优势,而这两个例子都证实了关闭学校的有效性。
{"title":"COVID-19 counterfactual evidence. Estimating the effects of school closures","authors":"M. Giuliani","doi":"10.1080/01442872.2022.2103527","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2103527","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Scholars have started to estimate the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions to reduce the health impact of COVID-19. However, the empirical evidence is highly contested, and since it is not known exactly what would have happened without those measures, political élites are left free to give credit to the voices that they prefer the most. We argue that any sensible assessment of the effectiveness of anti-COVID policies requires methodological reflection on what is actually comparable, and how to approximate the ideal “method of difference” theorized by John Stuart Mill. By evaluating the effectiveness of school closures as an anti-COVID policy, we provide two examples in which appropriate counterfactuals are inductively discovered rather than selected a priori. In the first one, we use Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM) in a cross-country setting, while in the second one, we implement the Synthetic Control Method in a within-country analysis. The article highlights the methodological advantages of including these techniques in the toolbox of policy scholars, while both examples confirm the effectiveness of school closures.","PeriodicalId":47179,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies","volume":"31 1","pages":"112 - 131"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74943929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-26DOI: 10.1080/01442872.2022.2091125
Alexander Matthias Geisler
ABSTRACT Facilitative political trust is the reduction in cognitive demand citizens experience when forming their opinions about political issues. This type of trust is important for generating legitimate democratic institutions in the eyes of politically uninvolved citizens. The article develops and validates an original direct measure of facilitative political trust among voters receiving a voting aid compiled by a Swiss municipal-level deliberative minipublic convening twenty citizens ahead of a federal popular initiative vote on expanding affordable housing policies. Based on perceiving the randomly selected group as competent and aligned with voters’ interests, we find a reliable and valid latent trust measure using confirmatory factor analyses among the same sample of voters within the municipality at two points during the campaign, ahead (N = 1159), and again around the time of the ballot (N = 472). In subsequent multiple regressions, increases in facilitative trust sores are the main driver of readers’ ratings of both the voting aid’s usefulness for deciding how to vote and of how important they judge its information for their peers’ vote decisions.
{"title":"Public trust in citizens’ juries when the people decide on policies: evidence from Switzerland","authors":"Alexander Matthias Geisler","doi":"10.1080/01442872.2022.2091125","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01442872.2022.2091125","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Facilitative political trust is the reduction in cognitive demand citizens experience when forming their opinions about political issues. This type of trust is important for generating legitimate democratic institutions in the eyes of politically uninvolved citizens. The article develops and validates an original direct measure of facilitative political trust among voters receiving a voting aid compiled by a Swiss municipal-level deliberative minipublic convening twenty citizens ahead of a federal popular initiative vote on expanding affordable housing policies. Based on perceiving the randomly selected group as competent and aligned with voters’ interests, we find a reliable and valid latent trust measure using confirmatory factor analyses among the same sample of voters within the municipality at two points during the campaign, ahead (N = 1159), and again around the time of the ballot (N = 472). In subsequent multiple regressions, increases in facilitative trust sores are the main driver of readers’ ratings of both the voting aid’s usefulness for deciding how to vote and of how important they judge its information for their peers’ vote decisions.","PeriodicalId":47179,"journal":{"name":"Policy Studies","volume":"21 1","pages":"728 - 747"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73252741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}